Thinkpad T40p or G4 PowerBook?

[murakami]

My thinkpad is showing its age, so its time for a new notebook. I've narrowed it down to a Thinkpad T40p and a PowerBook G4 (17"). The T40p is a known quantity and a safe choice, but the PowerBook is oh so sexy. I haven't been a Mac user since 1988 (yeah that's probably longer than some of you have been alive), so I'm not too excited by the OS X ui.

Workwise its fine because I primarily write in java these days. However, I like to compile crap off source forge that I'm too stupid to write, so I'm a little hesitant to jump into mac land. Yes I know it is based on BSD. So does anyone have any feel good stories about the mac that doesn't sound like one of their commercials?

[Chris]

My thinkpad is showing its age, so its time for a new notebook. I've narrowed it down to a Thinkpad T40p and a PowerBook G4 (17"). The T40p is a known quantity and a safe choice, but the PowerBook is oh so sexy. I haven't been a Mac user since 1988 (yeah that's probably longer than some of you have been alive), so I'm not too excited by the OS X ui.

Workwise its fine because I primarily write in java these days. However, I like to compile crap off source forge that I'm too stupid to write, so I'm a little hesitant to jump into mac land. Yes I know it is based on BSD. So does anyone have any feel good stories about the mac that doesn't sound like one of their commercials?

Sorry...I just am not ready to jump on the Macintrash bandwagon. FAWCR got a spiffy one that he was showing me last week...and lots of folks I respect are all wet on Crapintosh, but this kid is holding out.

[ck3k]

I was looking at macs, I might get one as a secondary machine only, I would go with the thinkpad, just run kde+karamba, looks just like the macOS :D

[murakami]

I tried really hard to like OSX, but its just too fucking irritating. The Powerbook hardware is also irritating but cool. I had access to a Mac for a week and tried to find something appealing about it. I bought magazines to see why Mac people like them so much and all I found were articles on on After Dark for OSX (remember the flying toasters?) and a comparison on grading programs. That was what did it for me, it seemed that Mac users are little more than AOL users in black turtlenecks. I honestly have never put this much effort into selecting a notebook.

I like weird hardware, but I don't like to pay full freight for it. So its back to IBM. The only thing missing from the T40's is built in firewire. Somewhere in America, there's a T40pm leaving a warehouse and heading for my door.

[converge]

The thinkpads have ungodly battery life, but .. how can you shoot down a g4? .. I would actually shoot for a smaller one personally, but they're all really pretty.

[murakami]

The thinkpads have ungodly battery life, but .. how can you shoot down a g4? .. I would actually shoot for a smaller one personally, but they're all really pretty.

I was really picky about this purchase because I will be living with it for the next 2 years. That means that is machine that I work on, read the paper with in the kitchen, and respond to emails in the crapper, and stream pr0n in bed.

Below are my decision points:

OS

I really don't like the Mac UI. I have always found it confusing and irritating, just give me a goddamn shell. When it comes down to it, the primary function an OS UI seems to be file management. I can rm, cp, mv, and export just fine. Somebody should rethink the whole GUI OS interface thing - it gets more in the way than it helps.

Software

I use MS Office because the entire world uses it and I have to get along with others. The alternatives are close, but not good enough. With Crossover Office, I can run MS Office (2000) just fine on Linux. I didn't want to blow yet more money for Office fo OSX.

I develop apps that use Oracle. While there is a "developer" version for OSX, it does not have all the Enterprise modules that I need. I find it really handy to have a stand alone instance when I'm offline.

Hardware

I have always disliked Apple's attitude that their hardware will provide you with everything you will need. One of the nice things about the Thinkpads is that you add a second harddrive via an Ultrabay HDD adapter. That means I can load my OS of choice on to a seperate hardrive and be up and running with out screwing around with boot managers.

Of course you can always add USB/Firewire peripherals (which I do), but that reduces portability.

Summary:

For me, it was a very close decision. However, I decided to go with convenience instead of spending a bunch of time tweaking OSX to my liking. If I can find a cheap G4, I might give OSX another try.

[IcEbLAze]

have you looked at yellowdoglinux yet?

http://www.yellowdoglinux.com

Some people say it's not as good as OSX - however it is a Linux distro ^_^

[murakami]

have you looked at yellowdoglinux yet?

http://www.yellowdoglinux.com

Some people say it's not as good as OSX - however it is a Linux distro ^_^

Yep, YDL seems geared to diehards that want to keep their old powerpc running. OSX is a better choice because it is developed for the hardware. I'm fine with BSD, but Apple needs to get rid of their dated interface. It was cool in 1984, now it just sucks.

[kree]

cheap G4's, have you seen the new ibooks.

[IcEbLAze]

Heh, I'm able to pick one up anyways soley because someone who I know is selling it to me for $100 (17in powerbook G4) because theres a problem with the power... but it can be fixed.... even if i have to put out like 300... thats still a WHOLE LOT BETTER then spending 2g's on a new one :D

[murakami]

Heh, I'm able to pick one up anyways soley because someone who I know is selling it to me for $100 (17in powerbook G4) because theres a problem with the power... but it can be fixed.... even if i have to put out like 300... thats still a WHOLE LOT BETTER then spending 2g's on a new one :D

Try 3g's for that model.

[wurui]

G4 !!!!


No doubt !!!!!!

That's Worth

[ck3k]

G4 !!!!


No doubt !!!!!!

That's Worth

Well, offer up some reasons why you think that, then post....